sorry it's been so long

Sorry I have been MIA, I have been in the hospital for the last month fighting a blood infection after my latest round of chemo and then got pneumonia. Don't worry I am home and on the mend.

Here's some updates on the babies:

Keslegh:
WOW she's moving all over the place. She is crawling and pulling herself up on everything. One baby being mobile is a lot of work, we can't even imagine when all three are moving. She is wearing 18 month clothing and wearing size 4 diapers. She currently has 7 teeth. Three on the bottom and four on top. She looks so funny with her top teeth because they aren't her front teeth they are her incisors so she looks like a vampire. Is taking three bottles a day and is eating finger foods.

Preston:
Has two bottom teeth. Currently wearing 6-9 month clothing and wearing size four diapers. He is not crawling yet but is rolling everywhere he needs to go and should be there soon. Is taking three bottles a day and is eating baby food at every meal.

Gavin:
Is soo close to crawling, we give it about a week or so. Currently he has two bottom teeth and we believe more are making their way in. He is wearing 9-12 month clothes. He is taking three bottles a day and eating baby food at every meal.

8 months!

Where does the time go? We are already talking about their 1st birthday party...EEEK!!

Cancer Update

I just wanted to share with you all...

Best News Ever...

THE CHEMO IS WORKING!!!

I had my CT scan this morning and went up to see my oncologist right after. He said this was one of the best scans he's seen in a long time. The smaller tumors are either gone or have shrunk and the larger tumor is hollowed out an no longer active. We are absolutely ecstatic about the news. I am hooked up to my chemo pump right now and couldn't be happier to have this toxic drug going into my body because it's working!

Thank you again for all your prayers...they worked!

Baby Food

Since the babies started eating solids we have been making all their food with organic vegetables. This past weekend we had a baby food making marathon! We made peas & carrots, peas, green beans, pears, apples, and peaches. The vegetables were cooked and then pureed. The fruits were baked and then pureed. I then put them into ice cube trays and froze them. Each day we will thaw a couple ice cubes of fruits or veggies and feed them to the babies.

And Preston makes Three

All three babies are successfully sleeping unswaddled!!!

Kesleigh is still waking a few times a night and just needs to be soothed a bit but goes right back to sleep. Not sure what that's all about but whatever. The boys are sleep champs!! We are getting a set schedule down for naps and for the most part (except Kesleigh) I can put them down at 8:30am to nap. Kesleigh just doesn't seem to need as much sleep during the day.

My mom brought them to our last day of school last week so everyone could see them...wow were we a spectacle for all:)



Hope you have a great weekend!!

Operation Unswaddle

So far so good. Gavin and Kesleigh are sleeping through the night unswaddled. I don't think Preston is ready yet because he's so little still andlikes being wrapped tight. I think 2/3 isn't bad:)

Here are some unverified weights on the babies. We weighed DH and then added a baby so they should be "somewhat accurate"

7 Months:
Kesleigh: 20.4 lbs
Preston. 16.6 lbs
Gavin: 18.36 lbs.

7 Months!

I seriously cannot believe they are 7 months old. Kesleigh is sleeping w/o her swaddle!!I thought for awhile there she would go to college swaddled:)Kesleigh and Gavin are both sitting up w/o help. Little man Preston still needs some help but he's ahead in other areas (like holding his own bottle). It's just so amazing how different they are. We have started taking them out somewhere every weekend just to get a change of scenery. We hear, "my you guys have your hands full" everywhere we go. Yes, I guess we do but honestly we don't know any different so it's not that bad at all. Yes, the first 6 weeks or so were rough but they are interactive now and so much fun. Sorry I haven't updated more, things are a bit busy around here:)

from left to right: Gavin, Kesleigh, & Preston

6 months!!

All three babies are doing really well and growing like crazy.
Here are their current stats-big heads don't seem to be a problem, must have good brains in there:)

Kesleigh:
Weight: 19.5 lbs (95th percentile)
Height: 26.2" (78th percentile)
Head: 18" (99th percentile)

Preston:
Weight: 14.6 lbs (5th percentile)
Height: 24 3/4" (4th percentile)
Head: 17" ( 34th percentile)

Gavin:
Weight: 17.5 lbs. (48th percentile)
Height: 25 3/4" (26th percentile)
Head: 17 1/2" (72nd percentile)

We needed more on our plate...

As if we didn't have enough going on...our Boston Terrier had to have his left eye removed on Monday. He had a bad cyst inside it and was pretty much blind because of cataracts and glaucoma. The vet was really worried about his eye rupturing so we opted to have it removed. Poor guy! He is doing great though, back to his old self which he hasn't been in almost a month.

My surgery went really well yesterday and I am just home resting.

Some Updates

Here's a couple updates on the babies...

- K has decided that she doesn't need to sleep through the night anymore! Yeah, it's not making for a very productive mommy the next day at work. We hope it's just the 4 month (adjusted age) wakeful period and she will be over it soon.

- Gavin had a tooth pop through today. He had been just a little crabby and whiny the last couple days but nothing terrible.

- They have their 6 month check-up on April 15th.

A few things on me...

- The chemo I was doing wasn't working so I have stopped it and plan to start another clinical trial on the 15th. This new trial is a 24 hour IV of meds. The doc told me today that when I have the meds home with me she doesn't want me to hold the babies at all because of the unknown affects if they were to pull it out and get the meds on them.

- I am having surgery to remove a mass in my stomach on Tuesday. Surgery will be outpatient and I should only need a couple days of recovery. We are pretty positive that it's more cancer but it's right under the skin so the removal should be easy.

- I have asked my oncologist to give me an appetite stimulant because I am not eating, not hungry and have lost way too much weight. I am 25 lbs. lighter than when I got pregnant! Who would ever think I would ask for an appetite stimulant!?!

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers! I will let you know how Tuesday goes.

5 months!!

Holy moly, how did these babies get to be 5 months old? I took Gavin in today to check and make sure his ear was fully healed...it was. We also got some exciting news. All the babies can come off the vitamins they were taking (good because they are nasty), the boys can come off the Neosure (preemie formula), and we can start cereals with them and then gradually introduce fruits and vegetables. Aggh, that means they are growing up, I'm not ready for that!

Gavin was officially weighed at the Dr. office today but the rest we weighed here at home so they aren't "exact."

Kesleigh: 18 lbs 15 oz.
Preston: 15 lbs.
Gavin: 15 lbs 5 oz.

New Hats!

Family Pic

Family picture in honor of our one year anniversary of the embryo transfer...now we have three beautiful babies.

Two out of three babies looking at the camera...not bad!
AND nobody is crying...BONUS!

Healthy??

I think we are all on the mend to being a healthy family again (knock on wood). Gavin is feeling much better and everyone else seems to have gotten rid of the coughs and the stuffy noses are on the way out as well. It's about time!

Mom Test = FAIL & 4 mo. stats

I feel like I've failed my first mom test. Gavin was really crabby Saturday and Sunday night and was running a fever. I called the on call nurse to ask how high of a fever was too hihg (his was 101.8). She told me to bring him in if it reached 104. He wasn't himself but I just thought he was sick with what we've all been passing around. On Wednesday he was back to his smiley self. On Thursday I noticed crust on his right ear but thought it could be formula. On Friday is was oozing. I called and they got me in right away but already suspected he had a rupture ear drum. A RUPTURED EAR DRUM! Apparently when he was fussy he had an ear infection. Poor baby, I feel terrible. He's on antibiotics and doing MUCH better. The doctor said not to feel bad because he didn't show many signs. She said his hearing won't be effected at all but we should watch for more ear infections because kids who get them under one are more prone. DH and I both had bad ears as kids. DH had to have tubes put in his ears and I was pretty close to having them in.

Here's a pic of all three of them I took today...they're getting so big!


Here are their 4 month stats:

Kesleigh:
Weight: 16 lbs 3 oz. (94th percentile)
Height: 2' 0.5" (61st percentile)
Head Circ: 16.73" (87th percentile)

Preston:
Weight: 11 lbs 7 oz. (2nd percentile)
Height: 1' 10.2" (0 percentile)
Head Circ: 15.98" (13th percentile)

Gavin:
Weight: 13 lbs. (15th percentile)
Height: 1'11" (2nd percentile)
Head Circ: 16.5" (41st percentile)

Back to Work

Tomorrow I go back to work! If you remember from previous posts I said I never wanted to be a SAHM. I still don't but I'm thinking that maybe next year I could go part time. I am a teacher and it will be so weird to be back because I haven't even met my students yet this year. I was on work restrictions in the beginning of the year, then had the babies, then had surgeries. I am looking forward to going back to work but these little ones are growing and changing so much I don't want to miss anything. Who knew motherhood could change someone's long standing views so much?

Ready for the Super Bowl

We have a Nanny!!!

The lady who was referred to us from a friend came over and she is awesome! I feel so relieved to have someone in place for when I go back to work next week.

Finding a Nanny

I thought this was going to be a relatively simple task...I WAS WRONG!!

I started my search about a month ago. We went through sittercity based on recommendations. I got a lot of applications for my ad that I posted (and paid money for) but the ones I contacted me never returned my emails (or phone calls if they left a number). I was speaking with a nurse and she said they found their nanny through care.com. So I thought what the heck. We posted another ad and paid the fee. Again, I got some pretty good applicants and I actually heard back from them and set up 4 interviews for this past weekend. One of the ladies we were supposed to interview on Sunday I had high hopes for. She has cared for infant triplets and also nannies for twins right now.

So get this...TWO of the four interviews didn't show up...including the one I had high hopes for. Seriously...these are not 17 year old girls not showing up for an interview, they are 27 & 30 year olds. I had been in talks with them, they had sent me their resumes and unlocked their background checks etc. NO PHONE CALL, NOTHING!! Who does that?? The two that did show up to interview aren't going to work (not enough experience).

I am going back to work on February 10th and I wanted someone to start with me this Friday. Now we are back to square one. I am so frustrated. We do have a lady coming to interview tomorrow night that I was referred to from a good friend. We will see. I spoke with her today and she sounded really nice.

Bottom line, if you need a nanny, start WAY in advance because it takes a lot longer than it should to find a quality person.

Sick Baby

We have a sick baby!
Uggg!!
Gavin has somehow gotten a cough. He's still as happy as ever and coos and smiles all the time but if he cries he will start coughing. So sad to hear. I have put a warm mist vaporizer with Vicks baby rub going in the nursery and have been giving him menthol baths and putting baby VIcks on his chest, back, and feet every night.

We don't know how he got sick because we are so careful to screen people that come into the house but any one of us could have brought germs in from outside (Bart from school, me from the hospital etc.) He seems to be doing OK and the others have managed to stay well. We are being very careful about pacifiers, burp clothes, etc. I am spraying down the couches and swings every night with Lysol to keep everyone else healthy (hopefully it works).

STTN

I had been too scared I would jinx myself if I wrote about it sooner but I am happy to report that all three babies are sleeping through the night!! They go down about 9 or 9:30 PM and wake about 6:30 or 7 AM. They will occasionally wake up in the middle of the night (mainly Preston) but if we just stick the pacifier back in his mouth it's right back to bed. WOW, has this made a difference for both my and DH's sleep deprivation! All three are sleeping in their own crib in the nursery and have been for about 2 months. Since I am no longer breast feeding there was no need to have them in our room. We have the video monitor (which I LOVE)that works great.

I could use some suggestions though on how to transition them to their cribs for naps during the day though. Right now they usually fall asleep in a swing or in a boppy on the couch and if we move them they wake up.

Three Months

Today marks the babies' three month birthday. The time seems to just be flying and they are doing new things every day.

Happy Birthday Babies!